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IWU Grad among Volunteers
Executed by Taliban
Aug. 9, 2010

Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana, a
university of the Fishers, Indiana based denomination,
The Wesleyan Church, has released a news story
regarding a graduate who was among ten
humanitarian workers killed by the Taliban:

Cheryl Marie Beckett, who graduated with honors
from Indiana Wesleyan University in 2000, was among
the 10 medical volunteers who were shot to death last
week in Afghanistan by the Taliban. She was 32 years
old.

“The entire Indiana Wesleyan University family is
shocked and saddened to learn of the brutal death of
this courageous young woman,” Dr. Henry Smith, IWU
President, said.

“Those of us at IWU who are privileged to work with
students such as Cheryl Beckett are overwhelmed and
humbled by their desire to make our world a better
place to live, whatever the personal costs may be,” he
said.

A memorial service to celebrate Cheryl‘s life will be held sometime in September after fall
semester classes begin on IWU’s Marion campus. The University also will establish a Cheryl Beckett
Endowed Scholarship.

The body of Cheryl and nine other volunteers – five Americans, two Afghans, a German and a Briton
– were discovered on Friday. The volunteers were killed as they returned from a three-week
medical mission to the Nuristan province, about 160 miles north of Kabul.

The medical mission was organized by the International Assistance Mission (IAM), an international
charitable organization, which has served the people of Afghanistan for three decades.

Cheryl was reared near Cincinnati, where she graduated as the valedictorian of her high school
class. She graduated summa cum laude from IWU with a degree in biology.

During her four years at IWU, Cheryl developed a global passion for justice and love while on her
travels to Honduras, Mexico, Kenya and Zimbabwe. After college, she worked with AmeriCorps at
the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park in Vermont.

Cheryl’s Christian faith and compassion for people led her to the Florida-based Educational
Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO) where she spent three years preparing for overseas
humanitarian projects. She spent the last six years serving the people of Afghanistan through
community development, focusing on nutritional gardening and mother-child health.

Cheryl had a deep love for the Afghan people and immersed herself in the local culture, including
learning Pashtun and studying the Dari languages.

Cheryl’s parents, Charles and Mary Beckett, live in Knoxville, Tennessee, where her father is the
senior pastor of Woodlawn Christian Church. The church supported Cheryl’s charitable missions
work.

Memorial services are planned later at Woodlawn Christian Church in Knoxville and at Christian
Fellowship Church in Evansville.

The family of Cheryl Beckett released the following statement:

Cheryl loved and respected the Afghan people. She denied herself many freedoms in order to abide
by Afghan law and custom. Her international co-workers and the Afghan Nationals with whom she
served loved her. She was honored to be included in this most recent three-week medical journey
to the remote populations of Northern Afghanistan.

The wickedness of terrorism is being conquered through daily acts of mercy. Peace in Afghanistan
can be achieved by the establishment of just laws for all people and the continued sacrifice and
selfless love of people working together.

Those who committed this act of terror should feel the utter shame and disgust that humanity
feels for them. We share this pain with those who continue the difficult and dangerous work to
which Cheryl committed her life.

We, as a family, will continue to love and pray for the Afghan people. We pray that Cheryl’s life and
work will inspire existing and future ministries of mercy to press on.